Schumacher: We threw everything at it

Midfielder Steven Schumacher believes Fleetwood would have gone on to beat Southend United had they held on to their opening goal until half-time.

The 29-year-old, making his first start since the 3-0 defeat to Exeter City, curled Fleetwood in front after 36 minutes, but his goal was quickly cancelled out by Barry Corr who headed in Southend’s equaliser five minutes before the interval.

The Cod Army piled on the pressure in the second-half, but found Southend goalkeeper, Daniel Bentley, in inspiring form as he produced a string of fine saves to ensure the Shrimpers held on to the point they needed to secure a place in the play-offs.

Speaking to Cod Army Player after the game, Schumacher said: “It was a game of two halves. I think that plays down to the fact that the wind always creates a problem here at home sometimes.

“In the second half, we played a lot better, we played at a higher tempo and had a few more set-pieces and a couple more chances and at the end of the day probably a point is a fair result.

“It’s a shame we couldn’t keep the lead a little bit longer, if we had seen that out until half-time I think we would have been ok.

“Going 1-0 up against the run of play and if we had seen that out we would have won the game.

“It wasn’t to be, though, we threw everything at them second-half, but just didn’t have enough.”

After riding out the Southend storm in the first-half, Fleetwood dominated large periods of the second 45 minutes as they went in search of the goal that would guarantee Town would take the race for automatic promotion down to the final day.

When asked what Graham Alexander had said to his side at the half-time interval, Schumacher revealed that the message was simple, but clear.

“Not a lot was said to be honest, he said that the ball had to be passed a lot quicker, we were inviting pressure a little bit, which is credit to Southend, they set a few traps and caught us out.

“We just upped the tempo slightly and the wind helps. You can keep the ball in the half a little bit and we were the better team.”